Notes: The main character, Antoinette, is inspired by the works of Sorayama Hajime, well known for his depictions of sexy (and shiny) robot women.

Rating:

The Humanoid

Synopsis

Dr. Watson (I presume) has just unveiled his latest work, a female humanoid robot named Antoinette, who was made with the potential for having feelings and emotions.

At the same time, the governor of the planet seeks the keys to an ancient ship that has the power to take them away from the planet they exiled themselves to, and he will not even let the possible destruction of the planet itself stand in his way.

Review

The definition of irony? Picking up this title a single day before I had the chance to read the review at the very site I write for.

Here's the thing, though; I'm actually very fond of the whole "robotic being exporing the limits of their emotions" angle in any media I partake in, anime or not. For instance, most of the Leijiverse seems to be centered around this to great effect. The Humanoid, like I mentioned in the notes section, has taken its inspirations from the robotic, yet VERY lifelike designs of Sorayama Hajime. It's just a shame that this inspiration didn't lead to better writing than what can be found in this show.

In fact, the whole OAV feels more like it's built around just a mere concept, as if the producers didn't really care what it was about, as long as we got to see our Humanoid featured onscreen. If we were lucky, maybe she'll even DO something.

The art and animation is actually pretty... bad, and the character designs leave something to be desired. Even Antoinette herself looks like an overly simplified version of Sorayama's detailed designs, so you can't really count on this show to bring anything visually authentic to the table. Some of the backgrounds are pretty decent, for all you get to see them.

Even worse, how do I write anything about the story when there's barely any to be had? The main attraction (no pun intended) is centered around Antoinette working out how her emotions work, which she does by falling in love. In the mean time, we have to endure half an hour's worth of setup centered around a spaceship returning to Lazeria, the planet the main cast is currently living in. There, Eric meets up with his fiancee, who happens to be dr. Watson's daughter. Between the two of them, Eric's partner Alan, the professor's old friend and Governor Proud -- yes, that's his name -- and Antoinette herself, you pretty much get the entire planet's humanoid population. Well, aside from Governor Proud's huge army of robotic soldiers. Yeah, nothing ominous afoot here.

But the most prominent cast member can be found in... the coffee. From the moment Eric and Alan's ship approaches, expect a great deal of time to be spent discussing the merits of a good cuppa. Alan himself can't shut up about it for even a second until Governor Proud unleashes his army of robotic beings, which leads to the scene where Antoinette suddenly figures out she's in love. Cue the scene of asses being kicked to hilariously bad power ballads, and that's it.

There's really nothing more to be said about The Humanoid. Its potential in portraying human/robot relationships have already been eclipsed by other shows, and the whole "cackling villain" angle has been done better before as well, even by the turgid Maetel Legend. And since I don't drink coffee myself, there goes the one chance I had to relate to this show at all.

If you're a heavy drinker of coffee, you may or may not want to add another star, but seriously... — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: There is a lot of sci-fi violence and death though most of it is bloodless. Most appropriate for ages 13 on up or anyone who simply really enjoys bad anime.